Pitzer College, located in Claremont, Calif., is an interdisciplinary liberal arts institution with an emphasis on social justice, environmental sensitivity and intercultural understanding in its curriculum.

Poet Natalie Diaz attended Old Dominion University on a full athletic scholarship. After playing professional basketball in Austria, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey she returned to ODU for an MFA in writing. Her publications include Prairie Schooner, Iowa Review, Crab Orchard Review, among others. Her work was selected by Natasha Trethewey, 2012 U.S. Poet Laureate, for Best New Poets. She has received the Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, and her debut book, When My Brother Was An Aztec, was published by the prestigious Copper Canyon Press.

Bobby Bullet St. Germaine is a celebrated writer and performer who has been a part of the music business for over 50 years. He continues to draw from a life and career filled with uncertainty, joy, love and difficult decisions to create memorable lyrics and heartfelt music.

Rosy Simas has been choreographing and teaching dance for more than 18 years. Her work incorporates her extensive dance training in contemporary and traditional forms of Native American dance, and includes ballet, Butoh and improvisational techniques.

The Longhouse Education and Cultural Center is the only Native facility of its kind on any university in the country. The dream began when Evergreen State College faculty member, Mary Ellen Hillaire of the Lummi tribe, founded the Native American Studies program.

The Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) has been a center of community cultural activity in the region since 1907. In that time, the college has contributed significantly to the continuity of contemporary craft as an artistic expression and offers degreed undergraduate and post-graduate programs.

In its nearly 15 year history, First Peoples Fund (FPF) has supported hundreds of artists through business leadership and cultural capital fellowships. These programs not only provide immediate assistance to participating artists, but enable deeper long-term business and community development impacts at the tribal level.

The Longhouse Education and Cultural Center is the only Native facility of its kind on any university grounds in the country. The dream began when Evergreen State College faculty member, Mary Ellen Hillaire of the Lummi tribe, founded the Native American Studies Program.

Sundance Institute’s Native American and Indigenous Program supports Native filmmakers across the U.S. and around the world. The Program invites promising Native filmmakers to develop their projects through the mechanisms of support at Sundance Institute, and then return with their work to Native lands to inspire new generations of storytellers.

In collaboration with community members and facilitation by master artists, non-reservation urban Indian youth were initiated into intertribal powwow culture through dancing, singing, drumming, song writing, and creating regalia and hand drums.

The project engaged 20 local Native youth ages 5 to 17 who live in Sonoma County, California in creating and delivering a theatrical performance designed to illuminate local Native cultural maintenance and social issues and build awareness and understanding of Native cultures.

This digital arts media program trains economically underserved and technologically disconnected young people to express their public voice and preserve the legacies of underrepresented communities and cultures.

Funding for the project supported the collaboration between master Lummi carver, David Wilson, and Chehalis Tribe community members, who joined the artist in the experience of carving a new canoe for the Tribe’s annual Salmon Ceremony. the canoe was launched as part of an annual Salmon Ceremony in summer of 2012.

Funding supported the 10th gathering of ukulele and slack key guitar masters at the Kahilu Theatre and provided a multi-day Institute comprised of eight public performances, four on-site training workshops with over 100 students, and eight youth shows at four schools.

The Organized Village of Kake (OVK) collaborated with Mike A. Jackson, a local professional artist, in the design and creation of Tlingit style carved panels that depicted the families that still reside in their traditional territory.